Pierre (the failed clone of Gary Bettman) has mad love for Pittsburgh (Sidney Crosby). "Edzo", Pierre's man-crush, is the Blackhawks' homer color commentator (the equivalent to a nationally televised Mickey Redmond, sans charm). This exchange doesn't surprise me in the least. In fact, I heard the names Johnathan Toews and Patrick Kane too many times last night to make me believe I was actually watching a Red Wings vs. Lightning game.

That said, as the puck possession brand of hockey goes, the Wings, Penguins, and Blackhawks are head and shoulders above the rest of the league. One could make a case for Boston, which I've always seen as less about possession and surgical passing and continued time in the offensive zone, and more about a relentless forecheck and constant firing until something goes in; more back and forth, up and down, out and back in hockey.

I would say their assessment is correct and the national games are meant to be a look at the league as a whole through the context of two of its teams. Still, knowing Pierre and Olczyk's slappy status with certain teams, it is always going to perk the ears to hear their plugs during games that are unrelated. And I'm almost certain their notes from NBC/NHL say "mention Crosby, mention conference/division leaders, mention Crosby again".

I absolutely can’t stand Eddie O, his dislike for the Wings is so obvious. He really has to reach to say anything good about them. If it was an offensive play by the Wings he reports on the play by the defensive team and if it was an awesome play by the Wings defense he reports on the great attempt by the opposing team. It makes me sick!

I absolutely can’t stand Eddie O, his dislike for the Wings is so obvious. He really has to reach to say anything good about them. If it was an offensive play by the Wings he reports on the play by the defensive team and if it was an awesome play by the Wings defense he reports on the great attempt by the opposing team. It makes me sick!

WAIT, stop it right here – EDDIE YOU SUCK!

He occasionally says good things about the Wings but to me his bias comes through in how he'll point out all these alleged penalties that should be called on the Wings.

As someone said earlier, basically he comes off like a local broadcast guy doing a national game. He can't seem to set aside his bias.

I absolutely can’t stand Eddie O, his dislike for the Wings is so obvious. He really has to reach to say anything good about them. If it was an offensive play by the Wings he reports on the play by the defensive team and if it was an awesome play by the Wings defense he reports on the great attempt by the opposing team. It makes me sick!

WAIT, stop it right here – EDDIE YOU SUCK!

I'm not a huge fan of Eddie when he is commentating but I met him in a hotel lobby after game 1 of the 2008-2009 Stanley Cup Finals and he was very nice, to time to talk to everyone who came up to him and when I talked to him really complimented the Wings and how great they were in game 1

When he is commentating he can't get over his bias over the Hawks but in person he was a pretty nice guy.

He also claimed that the Wings got away with having EIGHT guys on the ice. EIGHT! The horror! His attempt to telestrate this showed an empty patch of ice with an arrow in it pointing vaguely in the direction of where the bench should have been. Eight guys, huh, Edzo? I'm not buying it.

My hatred for Olczyk aside, I don’t even consider the Hawks a good puck possession team. To me they are a run-n-gun, dump and chase, grinding, sloppy team. They don’t make real complex plays except the occasional break in with a drop pass to the D or a crash the net with a back door pass, and even those are simple plays (stuff any 4th line is capable of). I know they fancy themselves a puck possession team and would like to be, but IMO they’re not. They always look for the quick breaks and lack the outlet pass support system required for a possession style team.

off all the things in Versus coverage Pierre is probably the least annoying guy.

Olczyk is a biased moron without any shadow of the doubt and he doesn't add any value to the coverage.
Emrick, probably the most impartial, is difficult to me to swallow with all his teenage-girl screaming and high pitch voice. I simply can't stand
hearing him for the voice alone, nevermind the content he produces. truth being said, he can't really be blamed for being impartial when
it comes to Sindy and this sh* candy-boys team.

Pierre, as annoying as he can be, is basically doing his job, i.e. being a laughtstock for the viewer. but at times he produces good observations
and when he forgets to be the broadcast-idiot, he can be pretty good. and yes, I love his creepy moments...

as for the love for Blackhawks... well.. I turn TSN.ca this morning (that would be morning CET, thus 12 hours ago) to watch the video
of Wings game of last night, and the first word to come out of the video clip is how Toews is god knows what... and for the moment I thought
I clicked the wrong video... I don't get this with Penguins love anymore (whatever game you're watching, you sure as hell will hear man love
towards Sindy) but Blackhawks are still news to me... and yes, it is unbearable...

He also claimed that the Wings got away with having EIGHT guys on the ice. EIGHT! The horror! His attempt to telestrate this showed an empty patch of ice with an arrow in it pointing vaguely in the direction of where the bench should have been. Eight guys, huh, Edzo? I'm not buying it.

Apparently I have to state it again:

He was complimenting them on a good line change. Did you notice afterwards how he stated the Lightning were slow to change their players which is why the Wings ended up scoring?

He was complimenting them on a good line change. Did you notice afterwards how he stated the Lightning were slow to change their players which is why the Wings ended up scoring?

I guess it’s a matter of interpretation… the way I heard what he said was, the Wings made a questionable change with eight guys on the ice and got the jump on Tampa. Otherwise why specify there were EIGHT guys, let alone emphasize it and draw a big yellow arrow to it. Perhaps it could be blamed on the ambiguity of the English language… or Eddie is a giant bag of ******. My opinion is the latter.

I've watched a few non-Wings broadcasts and noticed that the Wings get mentioned a lot. I always wondered if fans of other teams get annoyed hearing about Detroit when they have no direct reason to be brought up.

I guess now I know.

It seems to me that Pittsburgh and Chicago have large casual markets, but they chose the Wings to market the NHL against the Cup winners on the special hockey presentation. That makes me happy to be a Wings fan.

Pierre is a great hockey mind trapped in a teenagers emotional state. To his credit, at least he's excited about the game. He's actually a good teacher in that way.

I've always thought Edzo was more a Pens homer than Hawks. He was more impartial in the '09 WCF than either Final against Pittsburgh.

I much prefer non-NBC games simply because on the national games, it feels like they're not adding color to the game, they're marketing to you. And marketing is getting more and more obvious an amateurish and I get tired of it. At least the local broadcasts talk about what is actually going on in the game.

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